


How the mind works

by personqwer



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, Yu-Gi-Oh! Series
Genre: Amnesia, Deviates From Canon, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Psychological, Sharing a Brain, post-season 3
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-29 18:25:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15079013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/personqwer/pseuds/personqwer
Summary: Noah Kaiba wakes up inhabiting a body that does not belong to him, finding out soon that he does not know who he is, or where he is. His surroundings, and his body, seem disturbingly familiar.





	How the mind works

The void was anything but comforting. It was cold, dark, and lonely. The weak consciousness that felt the void had no idea what it was, or if it was even alive. All it could feel was the pins and needles of nothingness, and long for something more.

It one day opened its eyes. 

Looking around, the consciousness saw ambient, dreamlike colors all around, ever shifting and never staying the same. Colors flashed, yet it still seemed to dark and desolate. It had no body, and it felt as if it was everywhere, yet nowhere. It didn't understand, couldn't understand.

It decided to call out.

 _“Hello?”_ It called, in a warped, childlike voice, _“Is anyone there?”_

The strange dimension didn't respond in language. But it did respond in feeling, and in random flashes of memories like jolts of electricity. A birthday party was tomorrow? Excitement? But what was _today,_ the fleeting consciousness asked itself. 

It didn't get an answer. Instead, it felt a horrifying sensation that it was falling. It tried to scream, and when it did, it opened its eyes once more, and sat up in it's bed.

The young boy was in a cold sweat. He had no idea where he was, or who he was, or whose bed he was in, or why. He sat there breathing heavily, staring at the folds of his bedsheets as he tried to ground himself in reality. He blinked, looking around.

His room was relatively clean, but obviously belonged to a child. Toys, mostly stuffed animals, and some drawings and cards were strewn about. The digital clock on his bedside table, each number a different color, said it was 4:35. The darkness in the room, only, illuminated by a night-light shaped like a white dragon, implied it was 4:35 in the morning.

He rubbed his eyes, feeling tears in them. He wasn't sure why he was crying, or if he had been crying at all. This body he was in, was it his, or someone else's?

He stretched his short legs under the covers, and then climbed out of bed. Standing on his plush carpet, he flexed his fingers and stretched his arms. The pins and needles slowly started to go away, and he felt around the wall for a lightswitch.

When the light flickered on, the boy was able to see that he had long, black hair full of tangles. He ran his fingers through it, and was met with some resistance. He pulled apart the tangle in question, and winced. 

He spotted a door on the other side of his room, which lead to his own personal bathroom. He cautiously walked over to it, and peered inside. There was a bathtub, toilet, and bathroom sink with a large mirror above it. It was in pristine condition, and his bath toys were stacked neatly in a pile on one corner of the oval-shaped tub.

He stepped up onto the stool in front of the sink, and examined his face in the mirror. He was young, no older than thirteen. His dark eyes seemed familiar to him somehow, but they didn't feel like his own.

Touching his cheek, he felt the tear-stains made from his crying before he woke up in his bed. He felt a twinge of fear in his chest. He felt so… Wrong. He couldn't associate his body’s face with what he could call “himself”. 

Who was he, anyway? Did he remember anything? He wasn't sure, and he had a hard time feeling strongly about it either. Everything felt so far away.

He stepped down from the stool, and turned away from the mirror. Instead, he looked down at the pajamas he was wearing. They were pale blue, with white polka-dots. 

He stepped back into the bedroom, wiping the dried tears from his cheeks. He looked at the other door, leading outside his room. Maybe he'd understand more of what was going on if he explored more of the house?

He felt a sharp pain in his head, and gasped. 

He suddenly heard a small voice in his head, calling out his name. Noah? Noah sounded right. Was Noah his name? He wasn't sure… Noah, as a name, felt detached from his body.

Rubbing his temples, Noah approached the door leading to the outside, and opened it. The hallway was dark, only illuminated by the light of his room. He peered left and right into the darkness, seeing faint light at the end of each. He wasn't sure if he could get help, but he didn't know what else to do. 

Noah decided to head down the left hallway first. He slowly walked along, keeping one hand against the wall to help guide him when the faint light of his bedroom wasn't enough. 

He ended up finding that the house he woke up in was lavishly furnished, along the hallway, there were many decorative items, and picture frames up on the wall where it was too dark to see. One particular item that stood out was a small, rectangular table that Noah had almost run right into. He could just barely make out a beautifully crafted, solid silver dragon statue on top of it. Noah decided not to touch it, or anything, besides the wall and the air in front of him. 

Noah was afraid to flip a light switch. It was four in the morning. Yes, he wanted help… But he was afraid of what other people might tell him. He had amnesia, and he felt lost. Surely that would alarm people, if he supposedly lived here… He decided to keep looking for clues, in hopes it might jog his memory. But so far, nothing was coming of it. The more Noah walked, the bigger the sense of dread in his chest felt. 

The lights in the hall suddenly turned on, and Noah’s heart jumped into his throat. He turned to look down a new bend in the hallway, and he saw a rather plain-looking woman right by the light switch, and she was wearing a black dress with a ruffled apron. The word “maid” jumped into his mind.

“Young master…” The maid said, seeming to relax, “You startled me, sir. It's so early, why are you up?”

“Uh…” Noah droned, trying to come up with something to say. The sound of his own voice felt weird and alien. “I… I don't know, I…”

“Did you have a bad dream?”

Noah blinked, but slowly nodded. He wasn't sure if a bad dream was an accurate word for what he had experienced, but he knew for sure he'd confuse the maid if he tried to explain.

“Oh, I'm sorry, young master… It's much too late to stay up, and you have a big day tomorrow! Or, well, technically today… Come, come now…” The maid ushers him back down the now brightly-lit hall, back into his room. Noah said nothing, trying to think about what kind of “big day” it was. It was on the tip of his tongue… But soon, he was back in his room, with the door shut behind him. 

He looked at his hands, and back at his room. He hadn't previously looked through it carefully enough… Maybe there was something in his room that could help him figure out who he was. Anything. At least his name, right? His last name! Maybe it could tell him about his family, or help him remember what's happening.

He began to comb his room for any and all potential identifying information. His fatigue was starting to get to him, as he was as tired as any kid who wakes up at four in the morning would be.

His dresser was standard, full of his neatly folded clothes organized neatly. Nothing about his clothes was particularly damning in regards to his identity, but he did end up making a mess of his room in the process. Deciding his dresser wouldn't help him, Noah looked up at his shelves mounted on his wall. Up on his shelves were some action figures and old plush toys, as well as a couple trophies… trophies! Yes, those trophies should have his name on them!

Noah reached up slightly, but quickly realized that he wouldn't be able to reach the shelves on his own… He was shorter than he previously thought. He looked around for anything he could stack up and stand on. 

Approaching and opening his closet door, Noah spotted a small stack of textbooks most definitely used for school, and some plastic containers holding more trinkets and toys, and some colored pencils and paper. Inside one of the drawers, he found a large, messy pile of what appeared to be cards for a card game. The name of which he was drawing a blank on… But he was getting warmer. The cards seemed familiar. He probably enjoyed to play the game! 

He closed the drawer again, then reaching down to grab the heavy textbooks. With all the strength in his tiny body, he heaved the large stack out into his room, putting them before his shelf. He took a breath, and then carefully stepped onto the unstable platform. Standing on his toes, he reached, and just barely managed to nudge the trophy closer to the edge of the shelf. Leaning further, he stretched his body as far as it would go. Finally, he was able to grab hold of the skinny part of the trophy. Noah smiled, but found himself losing his balance. He let out a loud yelp as he slipped backward, the stack of textbooks collapsing beneath him. He fell painfully onto the floor, groaning. He lay there on his back, but he luckily had in his hand what he was trying to get. 

He held up the trophy in front of his face, reading the printed words at the base.

 _“Mokuba Kaiba”,_ it said. Right above the name, he made out a phrase in a smaller font, _“Duel Monsters Junior Championship”_ and then _“1st Place”._ Right underneath his name was the date in which he won the award.

But Noah was confused. The name on the trophy wasn't sure anywhere close to “Noah”. His name was Mokuba. 

He felt a sense of dread creep into his chest, just staring at the name. Two words. His name was Noah… Yet the two words in front of him struck a chord in him. He was afraid, he didn't understand. What was happening to him to make himself unable to recognize his own identity, or feel right in his body? This was his body, right? Right? Why couldn't he remember anything.

Overwhelmed, Noah tossed the trophy away, it landing with a loud thunking sound as it hit the carpet. Noah stared at the ceiling. What was happening? 

Kaiba… Kaiba. That name was familiar to him somehow. But his heart rate spiked. He felt so afraid for no reason at all. Mokuba too… Who was he? Why… Why, why why couldn't he…?!

He was hit with another sharp headache. He heard that voice in the back of his mind again, calling out his name. Noah wanted to cry. He wanted to curl up into a ball and ignore everything, pretend he wasn't in an unfamiliar house that was supposed to be his, in a body that didn't feel like it belonged to him. He was so… So tired.

Noah soon fell back asleep on the floor, the early hour he woke up at finally getting to him. It didn't help that he most certainly didn't sleep well before he woke up an amnesiac.


End file.
